Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses limiting yield potential. Salinity is even more harmful to seed germination and seedling development. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the salinity on germination and seedling growth in four different vegetable crops viz., tomato, chilli, cucumber and bhendi. In this study, germination percentage (%), shoot length (cm), root length (cm), root to shoot ratio, fresh and dry weight (g) were recorded at four different salinity levels (50 mM, 100 mM, 150 mM and 200 mM NaCl) and one control (0 mM NaCl). Significant differences were observed in all the traits in all crops in this study. Based on the germination percentage, by comparing the four crops, cucumber had the highest tolerance to the salinity which was followed by bhendi. The crops of tomato and chilli were more sensitive to salinity.

Background: Blackgram is one of the important pulse crops belongs to the Papilionaceae family. Seed germination and seedling growth are a very important step in the survival of a plant. Water stress is one of the important factors affects seedling growth. Methods: An experiment was conducted to study the effect of water stress on seedling growth in twenty-one blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] genotypes at the pot culture yard of Annamalai University during March 2018. The water stress was created by using Polyethylene Glycol (6000 MW) in different concentrations (0%, 10% and 20%). Different phenotypic characters were recorded such as shoot length, root length, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight and root dry weight at two different levels of treatment and control. The experiment was laid in a completely randomized design with two replications. Result: The combined analysis of variance revealed significant differences (p less than 0.001) among genotypes, treatments and genotypes × treatments interaction. The highest stress tolerance index (STI) was recorded by the genotype ADT-5. Based on clustering and ranking, the genotypes ADT-5, KGB-28, RU-16-9, VBG-10010 and VBG-12062 were classified as drought-tolerant. Overall, pot culture screening of 21 blackgram genotypes for drought tolerance at seedling stage using various concentrations of PEG 6000 resulted in the identification of drought-tolerant genotypes, where ADT-5 showed the highest tolerance followed by KGB-28 and RU-16-9.

A study was carried out with twenty-one blackgram genotypes in coastal saline low land in three seasons to study the genetic correlation and path coefficient analysis. Eleven seed yield and yield contributing traits were recorded on the genotypes raised in RBD design with two replications. Based on the pooled analysis, plant height, pods per plant and yield per plant recorded high PCV and GCV value. High heritability along with genetic advance as percent of mean observed for days to first flowering, plant height, primary branches, clusters per plant, pods per plant and yield per plant. Genotypic correlation studies revealed that yield per plant had positive significant correlation with plant height, clusters per plant, pods per plant, pod length and seeds per pod. Path coefficient analysis indicated high positive direct effect of pods per plant and pod length on yield per plant in saline condition. The genotype VBG-10010 performed well under saline environment over seasons.

Background: Blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] is a popularly known pulse crop in India for its nutritional quality and adaptability to many cropping systems. The crop is mostly cultivated in areas experiencing water stress which reduces the yield potential. Thus, it is imperative to assess the genetic variability present in the existing blackgram germplasm under drought condition. For this, principal component analysis was carried to visualize the complex dataset. This study was aimed to identify key traits and drought tolerant genotypes. Methods: Twenty-one blackgram genotypes were screened in the field condition for water stress where the experiment was laid out in RBD with two replications. Principal component analysis was carried out with thirteen traits in twenty-one genotypes of blackgram under normal and water stressed conditions.Result: In T0 and T1, more than 75% of total variability among thirteen traits was explained by five and four principal component axes respectively. Under water stress, pod length was highly correlated with seed yield per plant. Based on the interaction vectors and PC scores of genotypes, VBG-12062 had a positive interaction with seed yield. Thus, VBG-12062 can be a reliable candidate for breeding high yielding drought tolerant variety.